Research in the Applied Mechanics Group

Research in the Applied Mechanics Group is devoted to the rheology and formulation of complex fluids, as well as the development of printable functional materials.

On one hand, rheology is used for the development of modern processing and application methods. On the other hand, the influence of microscopic structures and interactions on the macroscopic flow behavior is investigated, because especially for complex, multiphase fluids, a careful coordination between product formulation and process design is often crucial for technical success.

Based on the understanding of these relationships, formulations of multiphase fluids with tailored flow and application properties for different coating and printing processes are developed.

Capillary forces in ternary solid/liquid/liquid systems are used to develop hierarchically structured porous ceramics for filtration and catalysis, conductive elastomers for flexible electronics, and silver pastes and conductive adhesives for solar cell manufacturing.